RSV Nahum 2 Chapter
1 2 3
2:1
The shatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts;watch the road;gird your loins;collect all your strength.
2:2
(For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have stripped them and ruined their branches.)
2:3
The shield of his mighty men is red, his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots flash like flame when mustered in array;the chargers prance.
2:4
The chariots rage in the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares;they gleam like torches, they dart like lightning.
2:5
The officers are summoned, they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall, the mantelet is set up.
2:6
The river gates are opened, the palace is in dismay;
2:7
its mistress is stripped, she is carried off, her maidens lamenting, moaning like doves, and beating their breasts.
2:8
Nin'eveh is like a pool whose waters run away. 'Halt! Halt!' they cry;but none turns back.
2:9
Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of treasure, or wealth of every precious thing.
2:10
Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts faint and knees tremble, anguish is on all loins, all faces grow pale!
2:11
Where is the lions' den, the cave of the young lions, where the lion brought his prey, where his cubs were, with none to disturb?
2:12
The lion tore enough for his whelps and strangled prey for his lionesses;he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
2:13
Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions;I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.